A basic problem in winding an optical fiber on a bobbin exist when the fiber must have adhesive applied thereto and in order to accomplish this the fiber needs to be held in a substantially constant position relative to a reference surface. When a bobbin has to be precision-wound with an optical fiber of hundreds of feet, in order to have the fiber dispense properly, the fiber has an adhesive placed thereon as it is being wound to better hold the fiber in place until it is desired to dispense the optical fiber from its bobbin.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an active lag angle device that allows an optical fiber to be held in a substantially constant position relative to a reference surface in the presence of a lead or lag angle while the optical fiber is being precision-wound on a bobbin.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device which enables an optical fiber to have a substantially constant position relative to its support in order to allow position-sensitive apparatus such as adhesive application systems to be mounted to the reference surface and contact the optical fiber for adhesive application.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a device that enables the fiber segment that is held in the substantially constant position relative to a reference surface to experience no further contact until it is wound on a bobbin.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in this art.